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Tookland
The Took clan had a history, among Hobbits, of rough and warlike behavior. It stood them in good stead during the Wandering Days, when a Took chieftain, it was said, walked through a Forest of Curses into Rivendell to get aid for the Fallines (Fallohides) at the Last Homely House West of the Sea. Whether this impressive little fable was true or not, the Tooks certainly led Fallohide resistance to the King's forces during their 15th century escape from Rhudaur. During the more peaceful days of their settlement in the Weather Hills, the Tooks, Bucks, and Pendles quarreled constantly. Marcho Fallohide, while arranging for most of his kinsmen to migrate to the Shire , hid his plans from the Tooks as long as possible, hoping they would settle for an expanded "empire" of pastures in the Kingsland. His secrecy was too no avail, since Catinflas Took got a hunting party over the Brandywine at Girdley Island in T.A. 1603 and rapidly staked out an extensive claim in the western end of the Green-hill Country. Catinflas—one of the few Hobbits able to speak (and curse) in fluent Sindarin, learning it from books inherited from his grandsires—had sense enough to make a polite settlement with Sularin, the Sîrrandrai Lord of the Pinnath Gelin and nominal leader of all the Elves in eastern Siragale. The Tooks, for all their trouble-making along the Shire Road (the Redway or Men Caraug from Waymeet to Sarn Ford) tended the woods of the Green Hills carefully. Tookland in TA 1640 Catinflas passed on these policies to his grandson Isumbras, the new Took-thane, and Sularin is one of the few individuals who can talk seriously with the bull-headed young chieftain. The primary Took village is Tuckburrow, hidden in a ghyll on the northern slopes of the Green Hills. From here the Green-hill Trace , built on an old path once used by an Arnorian religious sect, leads along the northern slopes of the hills through Buck territory to Stock. However, relations being what they are, most outside travelers to Tuckburrow venture south from the Great East Road on the Falline Trace, which the warring clans have sworn to leave in peace. Other trails, known only to the Tooks, lead westward through the hills to their extensive land-clearings around Tookbank and Whitwell. The Tooks are much leerier of outsiders than other clans. Men who cross their boundaries, marked or unmarked, are likely to find themselves arrested and escorted to the edge of Waymeet without so much as a "by-your-leave". Persons who commit violent acts against Tooks and Hobbits under their protection tend to disappear. Tamir, the Arthadan reeve at Bywater, dislikes this violation of his authority, but has not managed to find anyone willing to penetrate the Tookland and find the buried evidence. Since the Tooks execute criminals by drowning in a sinkhole in the Green Hills, this could be a daunting task. Tookland in later Times After the destruction of Angmar, Eriador had settled into a semi-permanent state of peaceful isolation, and its peoples relaxed into a routine of fairly comfortable poverty.In these untrying times, the old Hobbit clan structure faded away in most parts of the Shire.The Tooks, the most boisterous of the old families, fought the weakening of their traditions with astonishing success.In T.A. 2340, they gained the Thainship of all the Shire for their chieftains, wrestling it away from their ancient enemies, the Oldbucks of the Eastfarthing.While the disgusted leaders of the Oldbucks moved across the Brandywine to escape Tookish domination, the new rulers of the Shire confounded expectations by provided leadership both sound and benign.Sigismond the Good, the second Tookish Thain,had banished two of his grandsons from the Shire for secretly hiring mercenaries to conquer Buckland and Sarn Ford.He openly vowed to keep his family's rule peaceful, and his descendants kept that promise for a score of generations.By the time of the War of the Ring the Thainship had become a mostly ceremonial office. The Thain still called up the Shire-moot every few years.He still had the authority to summon the Shire-muster and the Hobbitry-in-Arms to handle Shire-spanning emergencies, but the need for this was felt only once or twice in a lifetime.For the most part, Tookish Thains allowed local officials and gentry to handle problems, giving their stamp of approval to, for example, Southfarthing farmers negotiating grazing rights with the Sarn-folk.When a true crisis appeared, as with the rationing of grain during the Days of Dearth, or the military reaction to Golfimbul's raid, the current generation of Tookish leaders would have to reinvent themselves and their leadership all over again.It could be attributed to the "Tookish" spirit of adventure and duty—or to Tookish arrogance—that taking charge and taking action never daunted them at any time in the history of the Shire. As the centuries passed, Tookland remained firmly in control of the Thains.Tuckburrow, isolated in a valley of the Green-hill Country, grew into a small but successful center for woodworking and pottery. Whitwell, situated on the Redway in the midst of more fertile land, prospered as a market center.Dolwich, on a southern spur of the hills, was situated to sell lumber and granite to anyone in the South- or Westfarthings and also flourished. Tookbank, the traditional Tookish seat, sat between these three towns and grew content in its grand isolation. "The Took" as the head of the family was called, accepted rents from hundreds of family living in and around the three villages.The clan remained supreme in wealth and influence among the Shire gentry.Its sons and daughters intermarried with old wealth (the Brandybucks) and new (the Baggins) alike.The Mayors of the Shire, who normally adjudicated land disputes among the Shire-commons, had no such authority in Tookland. Only the threat of the Mayor refusing to deliver the Mail in his lands forced the Took to listen to him at all. When Lotho Sackville-Baggins's ruffians arrived in Whitwell and Dolwich in T.A. 3019, the Tooks retreated into the woods and summoned help from the Thain.Ruffian patrols were driven back by showers of arrows when they attempted to scout towards Tookbank, and only the threat of hostage-taking in the occupied villages prevented a general Tookish counterattack. The ruffians continued to use the Redway to pass between Sackville and Waymeet, although they moved in armed parties.Sharkey, as he established himself at Bag End, planned to bring seasoned mercenaries from Tharbad to deal with the Tooks.Thain Paladin Took, caught off guard by the invasion, was drilling his militia and preparing for a full scale, simultaneous attack against Whitwell, Dolwich, Waymeet, and Hobbiton.Only the quick collapse of Sharkey's regime prevented a larger and bloodier war from breaking out along the Redway that autumn. The success of Thain Paladin and Thain Peregrin, his son, in dealing with the Steward and other officials of the reborn kingdom of Arnor made the Tooks even more powerful.Great Smials, in the Fourth Age, saw a continuous traffic in Hobbit and Dwarven merchants and lawyers. Places of Note *The Bear Dens *The Great Willow *Longo Burrow's Farm *The Methel-stage *Pincup *Tookbank *Tuckborough References *MERP:the Shire Category:Region Category:Shire Category:Arthedain